No prior art can be found which discloses the present invention. No patents, no publications and no known application disclose the method or apparatus of the present invention,
The prior art has produced many varieties of effective transducers for stringed instruments, however all suffer from one major drawback and that is the ease with which they can be properly placed on an instrument so as to given an undistorted signal. Except for the present invention, all existing, known or commercial transducers are very sensitive to the precise placement of the transducer on the surface of an instrument. This factor gives rise to considerable frustration and to the expenditure of many hours of tedious labor. The attaching process itself is also a problem, in that, as the attaching method can affect the result and commonly results in the production of a very distorted and unacceptable output signal. The effective distances involved are commonly measured in less than 0.001″. Currently it requires patience, days or weeks of effort and considerable experience to properly place a transducer on an instrument. Further, many of the adhesives require 24 hours to 72 hours to fully dry, thus extending the time required for installation.
This placement problem has been long standing for many decades and is completely resolved by the present invention. The present invention is a new transducer, which can be placed over a much larger area on the instrument, an enlarged sweet spot, with the welcome result of allowing relatively quick installation and the avoidance of creating unwanted distortion. For a given model or type of instrument, an experienced technician can routinely and effectively place this new transducer on a stringed instrument in 5 to 10 minutes.
The new transducer can be affixed using any of a wide variety of adhesives and the, issue of drying time is not a concern. Given the fact that the components which are or which may be utilized in implementing the present invention are currently in common use for this type of application, references are given below so as to elaborate upon the unexpectedly superior performance realized by the present invention when compared with existing technologies.
Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,706,957, Steven L. Merkel, deals with means associated with a slotted guitar fretboard and thus is not applicable to the present invention.
Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,948, Heikki Eero Raisanen, refers to a transducer that is “uniform throughout its length” and thus is inapplicable to the present invention. Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,943, Michael D. McGuire, Jr, refers to a device that is built into the instrument and therefore is not applicable to the present invention.
Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,605,771, Lloyd R. Baggs, relies upon a series of gaps which are monitored and from which detection occurs. The application is remote from the present invention.
Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,309, Giovanni Gaglio, refers to a magnetic pickup that is employed in a distinguishable manner from the present invention.
Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,457, Willairn Hudak, recites a means dependent upon a pair of sensors that support a mechanical interface, which is a technology, unrelated to the present invention.
Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,018, Arnie Lazarus, at last we are dealing with a device, which is somewhat similar to the present invention in many ways to include placement, power supply, signal extraction and sensor type. Although this device has been in used for about 3 decades, it is extremely sensitive to placement and is the precise type of transducer, which has created such difficulties when being installed. It does not teach the present invention.
All of these transducers lack the favorable characteristics of the present invention. The referenced patents, all of which are typical of the patents found in the field of transducers, fail to realize or to teach the advantages of the present invention.